AHA Statement on Proposed Electronic Health Information Rule

Ashley Thompson

AHA Senior Vice President for Public Policy Analysis and Development

February 11, 2019

Every day, hospitals and health systems see the value that information exchange has on care improvement and patient engagement. Today, nearly all hospitals and health systems enable patients to view information from their health record online, and each year brings additional gains in sharing across settings of care. This increased access to vital health information allows patients to play a more informed, active role in their health and health care.

Yet, there are still significant barriers to sharing information. As the administration defines what is not information blocking, we urge them to consider those barriers. 

We believe the proposed requirements on payers to make information such as claims or provider directories available through standard application programming interfaces has the promise to give patients better information about all of their care.

We cannot support including electronic event notification as a condition of participation for Medicare and Medicaid. We believe that CMS already has better levers to ensure the exchange of appropriate health information for patients. We recommend the agency focus on building this exchange infrastructure rather than layering additional requirements on hospitals. 

 
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Contact:       

Arika Trim, (202) 626-2319

Marie Johnson, (202) 626-2351